Work machines such as skid steer loaders are a commonly used vehicle for many industrial, agricultural, and landscaping operations. A skid steer loader is typically a relatively small four wheel vehicle which is steered by braking or driving two wheels on one side of the vehicle, while reversely driving the wheels on the other side of the vehicle. Two laterally spaced loader arms are mounted to the vehicle and swing upwardly and downwardly. When the arms are down, their forward ends extend downwardly in front of the vehicle.
A number of attachments can be coupled to the ends of the loader arms to adapt the skid steer to many different types of applications. For example, a bucket is commonly provided to dig, dump, and transport materials such as dirt, sand, gravel or debris. Similarly, the skid steer can be adapted through various attachments to act as a forklift, back hoe, ground preparatory device, cold planer, hole driller, and the like.
In order for the skid steer to clean and sweep a given surface, an attachment known as a rotary broom attachment, also commonly referred to as a bucket sweeper, can be attached to a bucket coupled to the loader arms. The rotary broom attachment includes a housing that is pivotally attached to the bucket and a brush mounted for rotation within the housing. With the arms lowered, and the skid steer moving across a surface, the brush engages dirt or other debris and forces it into the bucket. The bucket acts as a collection bin for the swept debris. The arms can then be raised and the bucket can be pivoted downward to allow the collected debris to be dumped at an appropriate location.
Unfortunately, as the brush cleans and sweeps an area, large quantities of dust can be generated by the sweeping action. The dust makes it difficult to operate the machine by limiting visibility and more importantly is a nuisance and a possible hazard to the operator. A typical method of controlling airborne particulates is to spray the area to be swept with a mist of water just ahead of the brush's path. The damp material coagulates reducing the amount of airborne particulates. Unfortunately, this requires an additional water tank to be mounted to the skid steer or the rotary broom attachment which adds weight to the device. Additionally, the constant use of water prohibits extended periods of operation because the tank sizes are limited to reduce the amount of weight of the rotary broom attachment. When the water tank runs empty, this causes unnecessary downtime and depending on the type of the water source and the water source's location, the downtime can be quite substantial. Furthermore, if no source is available at the jobsite, water must be transported to the jobsite. Additionally, many current rotary broom attachments are not equipped with any dust-reducing devices.
It is important to understand that while skid steer loaders are identified herein as the predominate vehicle to which this invention is directed, it can be employed with equal effectiveness to other types of vehicles having vertically or arcuately movable loader arms or connection devices such as tractors with three point hitches.